Labour’s plans to save households over £1bn a year on energy bills – Rebecca Long-Bailey

The next Labour government will save 4 million households at least £270 per year by funding local authorities to deliver ‘street by street’ home insulation schemes.

Through an investment of £2.3bn per year to provide financial support for households to insulate their homes, and for local authorities to drive take up and delivery of insulation schemes, the next Labour government will drastically improve energy efficiency, bringing 4 million homes up to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C by the end of a parliamentary term.

Labour’s plans include fully covering the cost of insulation for low income homeowners and all social housing, which will particularly benefit older people living in fuel poverty and pensioners on low incomes struggling to cover the cost of skyrocketing energy bills.

One in ten UK households are living in fuel poverty, one in five of which are pensioners; and at least £1 for every £4 spent on heating UK homes is wasted due to poor insulation. Age UK has previously estimated that cold homes cost the NHS in England £1.36 billion a year.

Reduce the cost of domestic energy bills for four million households – with a saving of at least £270 per year for affected households.

Improve the health and wellbeing of families, reducing costs to the NHS

Create new skilled jobs

Reduce carbon emissions

The funds will be targeted at low income homeowners, social rented homes and rental properties occupied by low income tenants by providing:

Grants to low income households

Funding the upgrade of council homes and housing association homes

Zero interest loans to “able to pay” homes (owner occupier and landlords) to make upgrades

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, said:

“Our ambitious insulation plan will see the next Labour government take real action against fuel poverty, making homes cheaper to heat, improving people’s health by improving our housing, creating new jobs and reducing carbon emissions.

“This is part of our plan to fix our broken energy system by capping energy bills and radically reform our broken energy market. By creating publicly owned, locally accountable energy companies and cooperatives to rival existing private energy suppliers this will make a real difference to people’s lives.”